This one is an odd bug, or at least what I think is a bug. It turns out, when I have farmers, they normally do their job, but when I start wanting items placed into the world [be it furniture, crates, windows, etc], they stop working and begin placing items down. After that, it’s back to work with them. Because of this, I struggled badly when it came to food since all I had was six berry bushes, and a hunter supplying food for about 11-12 people in my town.
Experiencing this as well, just started up a new game and immediately I noticed the farmer was working on other things. Jumped on here immediately to see if it was already up.
Think about waiting for the next harvest and planting before starting a big project, and then leave the growth time for the farmers to do other things as it’s supposed to. Don’t forget, if you can’t keep your food maintained, you can always decline to accept new hearthlings.